The present disclosure relates to a head cleaning mechanism including a recording head having ink ejection ports for ejecting ink onto a recording medium such as paper sheets, and also relates to an ink jet recording apparatus including the head cleaning mechanism.
As a recording apparatus like facsimiles, copiers and printers, ink jet recording apparatuses for ejecting ink to form images have been widely used by virtue of their capabilities of forming high-definition images.
In such an ink jet recording apparatus, minute ink drops (hereinafter, referred to as mist) ejected along with ink drops serving for image recording, or rebounded mist generated when ink drops stick to the recording medium, are deposited and solidified on an ink ejection surface of a recording head. When the mist on the ink ejection surface increases gradually so as to overlap with the ink ejection ports, there occur deterioration of ink flying linearity (flying curve), non-ejection and the like, causing the recording head to decline in print performance.
Under such circumstances, there has been known an ink jet recording apparatus in which with a view to cleaning the ink ejection surface of the recording head, a plurality of cleaning liquid supply ports are provided in outside portion (upstream-side portion in a wiping direction of a wiper) of an ink ejection area, where a plurality of ink ejection ports are opened, out of the ink ejection surface. In this ink jet recording apparatus, after cleaning liquid is supplied through the cleaning liquid supply ports, the wiper is moved along the ink ejection surface from outward of the cleaning liquid supply ports, by which the ink ejection surface can be wiped while the cleaning liquid is held by the wiper. In this way, recovery process for the recording head can be carried out.